XN000022-1975-10-15 — Page 4

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1975

BUT TO MEET THE STILL APPARENTLY INSATIABLE DEMAND OF HONG KONG'S PEOPLE AND INDUSTRY FOR WATER, THE MAMMOTH HIGH ISLAND SCHEME ON THE SAI KUNG PENINSULA SIMILAR IN CONCEPT TO THE PLOVER COVE SCHEME, BUT ON A MUCH BIGGER SCALE WAS BECUN IN 1970.

EVEN THEN IT WAS REALISED THAT BECAUSE THE HIGH ISLAND SCHEME WOULD NOT BE FINISHED UNTIL THE END OF THE SEVENTIES, AND SOARING DEMAND WOULD MEAN THAT EVEN IT WOULD BE INADEQUATE BY THE EARLY 1980'S ANY PERIODS OF ABNORMALLY LOW RAINFALL WOULD STILL MEAN WATER SHORTAGES.

THE ONLY SOLUTION WAS SEEN TO LIE IN THE DESALTING OF SEAWATER A POSSIBILITY WHICH HAD BEEN INVESTIGATED AS FAR BACK AS THE 1920'S, DECADES BEFORE TECHNOLOGY HAD ADVANCED TO THE STAGE, WHERE DESALTING FOR PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY HAD BECOME A PRACTICAL PROPOSITION. SITE WORK ON THE LOK ON PAI PLANT BEGAN IN 1972, AND ERECTION OF THE PLANT ITSELF BEGAN THE NEXT YEAR.

DESPITE DISRUPTIONS TO PRODUCTION CAUSED BY THE OIL CRISIS, THE FIRST UNIT OF THE PLANT HAD DEEN RUNNING BY EARLY THIS YEAR.

MR. CELL SAID: +1 THINK IT IS TO THE CONSIDERABLE CREDIT OF THOSE ENGAGED IN THE DESIGN, MANUFACTURE AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE PLANT THAT SUCH REMARKABLE PROGRESS HAD TAKEN PLACE IN SO SHORT A TIME, AND IN THE FACE OF NUMEROUS DIFFICULTIES.+

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